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Originally posted here by Tachyon Eh, seems like this is a bit far-fetched. I mean what is the feasibility of sending information one photon at a time?

The person talks in the article about the military and nation security implications. I doubt it. Nothing beats old archaic pull-tape =)

Interest proof of concept I guess.

This is not far fetched at all. Quantum cryptography has been in development for years. You can read quit a few threads about it on here. It is just unusual to see it picked up by a non-technical publication. The only reason they probably felt compelled to publish this is because this particular group of researchers is using human produced diamonds in the transmission of data.

Here is a site with some of the history and some more detailed information about it.

Originally posted here by XTC46 they lost my interest when they said it will be impossible to hack... No code is uncrackable...some just take more time than others.

While quantum encryption could be the victim of a MITM attack the attacker would always leave a trace that they have listened in on the conversation. That is the main strength of this type of encryption. The reason being is that the state of the photon will be measured by the receiver, if someone intercepts the communication between the sender and the receiver the state of the photon will change. In those situations the encryption, the one-time pad, would be changed, or the communications would be stopped. Which for all intensive purposes does make this type of encryption unhackable given current technology.

One time pad encryption schemes are really unbreakable as long as the key is only used once and it always kept secret. Given that the one time key is usually generated on the fly and sent between the two parties as the start of the conversation there is really no way to defeat a properly configured QE system. If an attacker is listening in when the one time pad is sent between both parties another pad is generated until it is sent without being intercepted. The ways in which the one-time pad is sent can also get very complicated and by the mere nature of the way they are sent prohibit an attacker from calculating the pad.

This is definitely not the kind of encryption that a group of underground hackers would be able to compromise. The only people who would have the money and other resources to even try to break this would be large governments. Even then, according to quantum mechanics it can't be done. So we would have to learn something new about quantum physics that we currently don't know, which is a lot, in order to even conceive of a way to break it.

So with current technology it is unhackable...Im sure wireless internet was thought impossible at one time also. My point was, I dont like people who say things like this are impossible, when in reality it will just take some time and money. I think the technology is awesome, and it will be great when it starts to be implemented. I just didnt like this article becasue by saying it is impossible it almost makes it sound biased and therefore not necessarily a good read. I do however look forword to future articles on the subject and have enjoyed the previous.

Actually what mohaughn is saying is dead right.
Even in theory, there is no way to crack data that uses quantum encryprtion.

Think of it like this, it's packaged up in a polished black perspex box so no-one can see in it and, with no marks what so ever, and it's passed along a line of people. Now when it get's to the other end, there's going to be fingerprints on the box as it was passed along, but it's examined before it is opened, and if there is any cracks or anything then they discard it and change to a blue perspex box.

It's based on some pretty wacked formulae.

I doubt that quantum encryption will be cracked with any technology that we come up with in the next 10 years or so.

Think of it like this, it's packaged up in a polished black perspex box so no-one can see in it and, with no marks what so ever, and it's passed along a line of people. Now when it get's to the other end, there's going to be fingerprints on the box as it was passed along, but it's examined before it is opened, and if there is any cracks or anything then they discard it and change to a blue perspex box.

until someone figures out how to see through the box or to open the box and reseal it without leaving a trace, or how to clone the box and the contents without actually reading it and then captuing a COPY of the box to examine later.

I agree that this technology willbe superior to anyother, but from what I have read so far (which is not very much) it seems unlikley, but not impossible to crack. Perhaps i just need to read more.